Fans of Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell video games have been waiting since at least 2005 to see Sam Fisher’s exploits adapted. 20 years later, all of that history has led to Netflix’s animated Splinter Cell: Blackwatch series finally finishing the job. With a full trailer now available for fans of Ubisoft’s legendary gaming franchise, I think we can say that the Liev Schreiber-led series looks well worth the wait.
Developed by John Wick franchise writer/creator Derek Kolstad, Blackwatch sees Fisher exercising his fifth freedom rights to protect the United States – and ultimately the world. He’s not alone though, as a new Splinter Cell is in the mix in the Netflix trailer shown below:
On the side of the heroes, incoming operative Zinnia McKenna (Kirby Howell-Baptiste) is the new blood joining the Fourth Echelon (or whatever the current iteration of the clandestine intelligence agency is on.) Serving as echoes of the past are Sam Fisher’s long time comrade in arms Anna “Grim” Grímsdóttir (Janet Varney), and Splinter Cell: Blackwatch’s presumed big bad Diana Shetland (Kari Wahlgren). This is where fans of both espionage thrillers and the John Wick saga’s ears should start to perk up.
Apparently Ms. Shetland is avenging the death of her dear old dad Douglas – a man whose ticket was punched by Sam Fisher. With a literal time piece acting as the key to the nefarious plot at the heart of Splinter Cell: Blackwatch, a ticking clock stands between the world and whatever Diana’s project (code named Xanadu) is set to unleash. Surely the high tech looking schematic behind that endeavor couldn’t spell some sort of disastrous doom, could it?
Slickly animated, and voiced by an impressive cadre of voice talent, Blackwatch fulfills a dream that’s been on the books for some time. Indeed we’ve come a long way from that 2005 teaser trailer for Paramount’s previously proposed film on the disc for Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory. And if you’re curious what that looked like, you’re in luck – because the internet has preserved that reel, shared here:
All told, Liev Schreiber sounds like he’s filling Splinter Cell legend Michael Ironside’s vocal shoes rather well in Blackwatch. The series also has the potential to tell a story that’s just as compelling as the ones we’ve seen in the gaming portion of this franchise; but without the need for a freshly charged controller. Unfortunately, you’ll have to wait a little under a month to fully judge, as this new series doesn’t hit Netflix until October 14th.
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